Noosa's new wave of resort dining

Fifteen years ago, Noosa and hot restaurants were synonymous. Led by Gary Skelton's Season, Hastings Street was the Queensland seaside getaway of choice for food-focused holidaymakers with time for the beach and cash for the dining room: the place has always been more Villebrequin than Mambo.

Sometime during the intermission, though, the tide went out on restaurant excitement: rents got out of control, shops stayed empty and the ice cream and second-rate coffee vendors took over. The glory days of Barry's on the Beach and, a little later, Palmer's, seemed like ancient history.

But now? There's a new swell on the horizon. Confidence, energy and investment are back. New restaurants are opening, old ones are getting botox, and in the wake of the smashing success of the Noosa Food & Wine Festival in recent years the town and its epicentre, Hastings Street, in particular, seems set to reclaim its place on the reef-break of Australian resort dining.

The Sheraton is in Noosa's restaurant epicentre, Hastings Street.

Jim Berardo, an American, has been in town 15 years as a restaurateur and force behind the annual festival. "A lot of people are saying we've hit the bottom and now, at last, we're on the way up again," he says. "Hastings Street is seeing some strong investment action."

He cites the big Sea Haven resort redevelopment due to open early next year; the recent opening of Locale from one of the street's veteran restaurateurs; the soon-to-open Miss Moneypenny's, a 500sq m bar and restaurant on the site of the old Ma Mensa; and the new presence of the Sheraton's dining room helmed by celebrity chef Peter Kuruvita as evidence of the town's resurgence.

"Like the rest of Australia, diners are being frugal, but they're still very active," he says.

Berardo says the festival has been a factor. "It's probably arrogant of me to say so, but I believe it has kept the food and wine culture of Noosa at front-of-mind for most of Australia, and for the international market too," he says. "At the festival this year, 5 per cent of attendees were international visitors, the highest ever, and a lot of these were from Asia."

"Our food is highly Asian-influenced, and there are a lot of synergies between the way people like to eat in Asia and the way they can eat here."

Berardo's new head chef, Tim Montgomery, agrees. "I can't believe I'm in regional Queensland," says Montgomery, who started his new job earlier this month.

"I walk down Hastings Street and I could be in any major city in the world, really."

Having first made a reputation at Adelaide's The Manse, Montgomery moved to Bathers Pavilion, Sydney, and then to Newcastle where he put Bacchus on the map as one of NSW's finest regional dining rooms with a contemporary cooking style blending classic roots and a New Nordic interest.

"I'd describe this (Noosa) as having a very fresh, clean sort of food culture. Everything seems to be both cleaner and a lot lighter than what I am used to. Going to the farmers' market yesterday was really interesting, food culture here seems really strong." Montgomery says his style changed when he went to Newcastle "and I think it will change again here".

"There is a subtle pan-Asian influence that's quite noticeable."

Montgomery hopes that what happened in Newcastle, with some progressive chefs finding a niche, can happen in Noosa. "The more people take chances and push boundaries the more this kind of thing becomes an exciting scene and I think we could be on the precipice of having that sort of thing here in Noosa," he says.

For expat Brit David Rayner, 13 years in Noosa after six in Sydney have gone fast.

"I didn't think it would last as long as it has," says the chef/proprietor of Noosaville's Thomas Corner.

"I came here because it had that great history of being a foodie resort town," he says. His first four years in Noosa, at Berardo's, were "full on - people were throwing money around left right and centre" but he says Noosa is coming out "of a real worrying period".

"For about a year we definitely hit rock bottom but the better places have come through it and survived ... A lot of things have come together that have been really good for Noosa."

They relate to economic cycles and Australians' own holidaying habits, among others.

"Business is absolutely cranking, powering at the moment. Possibly a bit too much. It's been like that for months now."

Source: The Australian, 12 October 2013